The computer and computer related industries have benefitted from a rapidly increasing availability of data processing functions. Along with this benefit comes the problem of how to present the great number and variety of available functions to the interactive operator or user in display interfaces which are relatively easy to use. In recent years, the hierarchical tree has been a widely used expedient for helping the user to keep track of and organize the operative and available functions. In typical tree structures such as those in Microsoft Windows 95.TM. and IBM Lotus.TM. systems, there is presented on the display screen a variety of available functions and resources in tree hierarchies with classes and subclasses of functions and resources displayed as objects in a descending and widening order based upon some kind of derivation from the next higher class or subclass.
The relationships between items in different levels of a tree are sometimes referred to as parent/child relationships. In some structures, child items can inherit properties from their parent items. In such structures when specific properties are changed in the parent item, those changed properties will be inherited by its child items. However, there may arise circumstances where it is desirable to effect changes in all child objects of a given parent without modifying the parent and without necessarily having to modify each child. The conventional tree structures which allow inheritance would not be adequate for such purpose because the properties of the parent would have to be modified in order to pass down the modification.